Friday, 18 Dec 92 Washington, DC
1. FY 1993 NSF OPERATING PLAN IS APPROVED--WITH A FEW
EXCEPTIONS!
At this point the plan itself is still a state
secret; it was not shared even with NSF Division heads. Why such
secrecy? Perhaps it was concern that some grantees would lobby
the Appropriations Committees to urge that parts of the plan be
rejected. In fact, some parts of the plan were disapproved. A
letter signed by Sen. Mikulski (D-MD) and Bob Traxler (D-MI),
lists several exceptions; curiously, no mention is made of the
NSF strategic plan.
2. IN A TOUGH YEAR, LIGO SEEMS TO BE THE MOST CONTENTIOUS
ISSUE.
When it became clear that this was going to be a rotten year, NSF
sought to scale back its $48M request for LIGO to $16M. Alas, the
LIGO pitchmen did not let up. Over NSF objections, Congress ear-
marked $38M for LIGO construction, with another $5M for LIGO R&D
to be taken from Physics. Last year, Congress earmarked $2M more
for LIGO than NSF requested--which was taken from the National
High Magnetic Field Lab. In this year's operating plan, NSF tried
to reduce LIGO to $25M, but the Appropriations Committees did not
agree to the reduction, and the Mikulski/Traxler letter instructs
NSF to go ahead and allocate the $5M to LIGO from Physics. The
letter does call for a meeting between Committee staff and NSF
officials in early January to resolve the disagreement. Walter
Massey has already met with Sen. Bennett Johnston (D-LA), chair
of the Appropriations Committee, to plead for the lower figure,
but reportedly got nowhere. One LIGO site will be in Louisiana.
3. THE MOST POLITICAL ISSUE WAS CLEARLY THE RELOCATION OF
NSF.
Mikulski returned fire in the war between Maryland and Virginia.
In a letter to President Bush, Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA) urged the
immediate firing of NSF Director Walter Massey for his refusal to
relocate NSF to a site in Wolf's district. It all began in 1987,
when then-Director Erich Bloch asked GSA for new office space. A
site in Arlington, VA was selected in 1990 that would save the
taxpayers $81M, according to a GAO report. Sen. Mikulski (D-MD),
favors a move--but to the Maryland side of the Potomac. In March,
the White House ordered Massey to move, but no money for the move
was ever appropriated, since Mikulski controls the spigot. The
money would have to come out of research, and NSF, which is two
blocks from the White House, is not anxious to move to the burbs
anyway. On the same day that Wolf called for firing Massey for
not moving, the Mikulski/Traxler letter ordered Massey to stay
put: "With regard to the proposed move, we direct the Foundation
to withhold from taking any actions, including expenditure or
receipt of funds, to initiate such a move." A few days later,
Sen. Robb (D-VA) wrote to Vernon Jordan, Director of the Clinton
Transition, charging that Massey had lobbied Congress to withhold
funds for a move and asking for assurances that the Clinton
Administration would not revisit the question of where to locate
NSF. But with Robb facing indictment on charges of conspiracy to
violate wiretap laws, it's not clear how much influence he has.
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